History of Chester, (Chester County) South Carolina United States of America

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Biographies:

William H. Brawley, representative, was born at Chester, S.C., in 1841. He was graduated from the South Carolina college in 1860, and at the breaking out of the war he entered the 6th regiment S.C. V. as a private. While serving in rhe ranks he lost an arm at the battle of Seven Pines, and was retired from military service. He then went to Europe, where he remained until December, 1865, when he returned to Chester, S.C., and was admitted to the bar in 1866. He was elected solicitor of the 6th circuit in 1868, was re-elected in 1872, and in 1874 he resigned this office and removed to Charleston, where he practised law. He was elected to the state legislature from Charleston county in 1882. His speeches on the railroad law and his appeal in 1886 in behalf of the sufferers from the Charleston earthquake were conceded to be the ablest arguments ever made in the South Carolina legislature. In 1890 he was elected as representative from the first district to the 52d Congress. He was re-elected to the 53d Congress and resigned in 1894 to accept the judgeship of the United States court for the district of South Carolina.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Albert Gallatin Brown, statesman, was born in Chester district, S.C., May 31, 1813. He removed with his parents to Mississippi, where he received an academic education. He was admitted to the bar in 1834, in 1835 was elected a member of the state house of representatives, and was returned to that body by successive election until 1839, when, having been elected a representative in the 26th Congress, he took his seat in that body. During the years 1841-'43 he was judge of the circuit superior court. In 1843 he was elected governor of Mississippi, and held the office by continuous re-election for five years. In 1848 he was elected as representative in the 31st Congress, and was re-elected to the 32d and 33d congresses. In 1853 he was elected to the United States senate. He was chairman of the committee on the District of Columbia in the 35th Congress, and a member of the committee on Indian affairs and that on enrolled bills. He was re-elected in 1859, but served only until the breaking out of the civil war, when he was expelled and entered the Confederate army, where he was given the rank of captain, and in 1862 was elected a Confederate states senator, serving in the 1st and 2d congresses. His speeches were collected and published in 1859. He died at Jacksonville, Miss., June 12, 1880.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Charles Robert Hemphill, clergyman, was born in Chester, S.C., April 18, 1852; son of James and Rachel (Brawley) Hemphill, grandson of the Rev. Dr. John and Jane (Lind) Hemphill, and a descendant of Col. John Nixon of South Carolina who was killed in the Revolutionary war. He entered the University of South Carolina in 1868, the University of Virginia in 1869 and the Columbia, S.C., theological seminary in 1871. In 1878 he was a fellow of Johns Hopkins university, He was tutor in Hebrew at Columbia theological seminary, 1874-78; professor of Latin and Greek in the Southwestern Presbyterian university, Clarksville, Tenn., 1879-82; professor of biblical literature, Columbia seminary, 1882-85; pastor of the second Presbyterian church, Louisville, Ky., 1885-99, and professor of New Testament exegesis in Louisville Presbyterian theological seminary after 1893. In 1895 he was moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in the United States. He received the degree of D.D. from Central university and Davidson college in 1884 and that of LL.D. from Hanover college in 1895. He is the author: of Christ's Testimony to the Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch (1884); The Testimony of Christ and the Apostles to the Authorship of the Pentateuch (1889); and several other important essays.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor